Toronto Raptors: Top five bellwethers for the Raptors this season

Kyle Lowry may be hurting the Raptors defensively

This is not an indictment of the heart and soul of the Toronto Raptors roster for the last eight years, Kyle Lowry. There have been struggles with his overall play, shooting inconsistencies, issues with management and playoff performances in past years.

Through it all, Lowry has been professional, hardworking and dedicated to making the Toronto Raptors winners under his point guard leadership skills. At, 6-foot 193lbs, and 33 years old, Kyle Lowry plays bigger than he is. When head coach Nick Nurse decided, rightfully so, that Fred Vanvleet was worthy of being in the starting lineup it meant the Raptors’ defense would have to overcome a serious flaw.

Two smallish starting guards, in a league that values height, vertical reach, and wingspan, hampers the effectiveness of the Raptors aggressive rotating perimeter defensive strategy. In the recent 112-92 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, two second-quarter defensive plays illustrate this concern.

At the 4:35 mark of the second quarter of the game, Kawhi Leonard dribbles left toward the middle of the key (foul Line) and rises for a successful fadeaway jump shot. Kyle Lowry played the defensive set well staying with Leonard and not allowing him to get deeper into the paint.

However, once Leonard decided to pull up and shoot over Lowry who could do nothing to compensate for Leonard’s fade away or his extra seven inches of height.

With 2:10 left in the same quarter, Leonard received a pass on the fast break near the right block in the Raptors zone and pulled up and made a short distance shot over Kyle Lowry. Once again, Lowry is in a good position that, if Leonard attempted a layup or dunk on the play, it likely ends with a charge or a block or even a potential Clippers turnover.

However, once again Lowry could do nothing more on a pull-up jumper because of height and standing reach differential.

This also becomes an issue when both Fred Vanvleet or Kyle Lowry are hustling back to open shooters after aggressively trapping or double-teaming.  If the defender closing out on the shooter cannot affect the sightline of the shooter or cause the shooter to hesitate to disrupt the shot release, the aggressive defensive strategy is less effective as shooters are not troubled by it.